Get Off on the Pain (28 page)

I take another swing to the face and then another, before I hear a soft voice in the crowd calling my name.

As the voice gets closer I realize that it’s Lyric.

My blood runs cold, and for the first time in a long time I feel helpless.

Rio is still taking swings to my face when I spot Lyric’s caramel hair from the corner of my eye. She’s running toward the ring, screaming and crying. All I can think about is how Alex allowed her to come here. That means that they’re both here. I’m going to get us all killed.

“Memphis! Please fight. Please fight back. They’ll kill you. Please!” Right as she gets close to the ring Asher scoops her up and starts pulling her through the crowd. I see her swing out and punch Asher over and over. It doesn’t seem to bother him though. He looks . . . proud.

I feel an adrenaline I’ve never felt before surge through my body and before I know it I’m plowing my knee repeatedly into Rio’s face, screaming out. When I release his hair, he falls to the cement and I am jumping through the ropes to get to Lyric, my body so sore that I almost scream with each movement.

I feel hands and arms trying to restrain me, but I break free somehow and keep on running. From a distance I see Alex in the crowd, fighting to make his way towards Lyric too. He’s swinging punches left and right, keeping his eyes on Lyric the entire time.

The crowd is going crazy now, some of them even giving me a push to help me through. I’m jumping over people, through people, and on top of people. My protective instinct is spiking so much I can’t think. I need to get to her and Alex.

Just when I think I have a chance, I feel something hard hit me in the side of my head, before I get tackled by a few guys wearing suits.

I start fighting them off, but with there being three of them it’s starting to seem useless, draining all of my energy.

“Don’t you fucking hurt them you piece of shit!” I struggle a bit more, but I feel a huge arm wrap around my neck. “I’ll fucking kill you! Get the fuck off of me!”

It seems like an eternity that I’m stuck there, unable to fight my way through these assholes. I’m pretty sure that I’m going to lose them both. Asher is powerful. Everyone fears him. If there’s a way out of this mess, I have no idea what it is. I’m clueless, so I stop struggling against them and prepare for them to take me to the back. At least then I can get close enough to them before I make my next move.

They start dragging me through the hall when suddenly I hear gunfire and everyone starts rushing and fighting to get out of the warehouse.

My heart stops and my breath rushes from my lungs. I start fighting again until I’m lost in the crowd, fighting my way through the scattering herd.

Everyone is jumping over each other to get out when gunfire sounds again, causing me to move faster. I don’t even notice the warehouse filling up with cops until I get to the back hallway and see Lyric and Alex squeezed into a room between cops. Asher is down on the ground with a knee to his neck as a police officer cuffs him.

His eyes meet mine for a split second before they find their way to Lyric. Something flashes in his eyes that I never thought I’d see: pain.

Lyric is crying, her body stiff as she stares back at Asher while he screams out over and over again, repeating the same things. “How could you? My own fucking daughter! You betrayed me!”

Fuck!

I try making my way to Lyric, but I get held back by a few cops that read me my rights and start cuffing me.

There’s no way I’m getting out of this. I’m bloodied, bruised, and covered in blood. The only thing keeping me happy is that Lyric and Alex are safe. They’re the only two that matter to me now.

Lyric looks over at me right as a police officer starts dragging me away. “No! He’s with us. Don’t arrest him. Please!”

An officer close by explains something to her, but she doesn’t seem to care. She’s still trying to get to me. “I’m so sorry, Memphis. I had to call the police. I couldn’t let you die in there. It will be okay. I promise. I’ll explain everything to the cops.” She pushes an officer as I try to break through to her.

Once she gets by I come at her, but get stopped by a cop grabbing me from behind.

I swing my head back, busting it against his nose before pushing Lyric against the wall with my body and pressing my lips against hers. Her hands wrap around my waist, holding me as close as she can.

I kiss her long and hard before pulling away. “Stay with Alex. Can you promise me that?”

She nods her head and Alex rushes out into the hall and grips my shoulder.

“I’ll take care of her. Don’t worry, man. We’ll get it all sorted out. I’m sorry, bro. I only let her come here because I knew Asher wouldn’t hurt his only daughter.”

I press my forehead to his, looking him in the eyes, before I get dragged away and thrown against the wall alongside everyone else that’s in cuffs. They take us out one by one, leading us to the pile of cars that take up almost the whole back parking lot.

Once I get outside, I look up to see Asher shooting daggers my way as he roughly gets thrown into the back of one of the cars. He’s evidently pissed off and hurt that his only daughter betrayed him to help me.

Once I’m thrown into a car, myself, I close my eyes and smile to myself, knowing that Alex and Lyric are safe. It’s now that it fully sinks in what Lyric did tonight and how much it had to hurt. My heart aches knowing that she had to make that decision. That’s a tough choice to make. Family is supposed to be everything and he was the only one that she had.

She told me once before that her father was a bad man and that she should have turned him in a long time ago. Now I know why there are so many police cars outside.

She made this decision for me. Now it’s time for me to make a decision for her . . .

Two weeks later . . .

AFTER THINGS CALMED DOWN AND I explained everything at the station, they dropped the charges against Memphis, realizing that he was forced into fighting for my father. The only thing he got charged with was breaking a police officer’s nose, so they agreed on giving him three weeks jail time.

After everything that went down, we couldn’t have gotten any luckier than that. When I watched them drag him away, I felt a pain in my gut that I’ve never felt before. I didn’t even feel that way as they dragged my father away.

The pain and betrayal in his eyes hurt, but not more than the thought of losing Memphis did. The truth is my father won’t see the outside of a jail cell for a very long time, at least not before his eightieth birthday. Apparently they’ve been watching him here for a long time, building information against him, and this was the call they needed to book him. I don’t like knowing I have family behind bars, but I did what I had to do to save so many others. Sometimes you have no choice but to turn on someone that shares your bloodline. More lives were saved than the one lost. He was never going to stop.

Memphis made me realize that. He opened my eyes, and having to choose between them was easier than I thought, a lot easier. Even though that means I’ll most likely never see my father again. He wasn’t much of a father anyways.

It’s five p.m. on a Saturday night here at the tattoo shop. Alex started a few days ago and Styles couldn’t be happier with his work. Aside from Memphis being in jail, everything else seems to be falling into place. Trevor even stopped in the shop this morning to apologize. Alex kept a close eye on him the whole time, making sure he kept his distance, which he did. He seemed very genuine and it made it easy to see why he and Memphis were so close in the past. I’m glad Alex was at least here for that moment, otherwise, I may not have given him the chance to talk. I don’t know what I would do without those two boys. Alex and Memphis have the biggest hearts I know and I’m happy to have them both in my life.

The only thing that makes me nervous about Memphis getting out is him wanting to leave. The thought of him moving makes my heart ache, but I need to let him do what it takes to for him to be happy. He deserves it just as much or more than anyone else does.

I’m sitting in my room working on a drawing of my mother when Alex pokes his head inside and smiles.

“Hey, pretty lady.”

I smile up at him and push away from my desk. “What’s up, Alex? Is my next client here? You can send them in.”

He shakes his head. “I’m not sure if he’s a client, but there’s this pretty decent looking guy asking for you.”

I tilt my head to the side and try to see if Alex is messing with me. I have no idea who it could be besides Liam, but he never comes to the shop.

Pushing my drawing aside, I jump to my feet and stretch while walking toward the door. “I have no idea who would be . . .”

I stop dead in my tracks and place my hand over my mouth when I see Memphis standing next to the front desk, looking sexier than ever in his leather jacket and a pair of old faded jeans.

He smiles when he sees me and motions with his head for me to come to him.

I can’t help the excitement that surges through me as I rush over to him and jump into his arms.

His hands tangle in my hair and his lips kiss my head, face, and then finally my lips.

“What are you doing here?” I press my lips against his again before pulling away and looking him over. Most of his cuts and bruises are healed and he looks as if he did a lot of working out over the last two weeks. “I thought you weren’t getting out for another week?”

A small smile spreads across his face before he pulls my chin up so that our eyes meet. “Ryder called in a favor with his dad. Never thought that shit would happen, but I guess he sort of owes me.”

He looks me up and down before rubbing his thumb under my chin. “I got out a few days ago but I needed time to think.”

I feel my stomach sink. It’s coming. He’s going to tell me that he’s leaving. “Yeah,” I whisper.

“I got a letter.” He pulls an envelope from out of his jacket pocket and squeezes it in his hand. “It was from my mother.”

I follow him as he walks toward the door and holds it open for me to walk out first. He takes off his leather jacket and drapes it over my shoulders. “She told me about how proud she was of me. Told me how much she loved me and that Alex was lucky to have a brother like me in his life.” He stops to take a breath before continuing. “She said that she wished she’d had the courage that I did to put a stop to my father hurting us. That she wishes she had the strength to protect us.”

He looks away for a second, trying to collect his emotions. I see his jaw clench before he turns back to look at me. “She told me to never change and to promise her that I will always keep the ones that I love warm. To be strong and to find the courage I’ve had all along.”

I walk up behind him and wrap my arms around his waist. I want nothing more right now than to be close to him. “Here, explaining it doesn’t do it justice. Read it for yourself.”

He hands me the folded piece of paper and I open it, staring at the beautiful handwriting before me. I haven’t even started and already I feel the emotions rolling off the page as she placed that pen to the paper so many years ago. My eyes start to scan at the first line.

My Memphis,

If you're reading this I'm long gone and you've recently come home, to the only place that you belong. Don't be mad at Jack for waiting to give you this letter. He was under very distinct orders. I know you so don't roll your eyes as if what I'm saying is crazy. You're my first-born and my strongest. You're also the most passionate between the two. If you never listen to anything else I say, listen to this. What happened that night was not your fault. Anyone in your situation would have made the same exact decision. Seeing you that night showed me that you and Alex would be just fine without me, because I know you would do anything to protect him. I am more proud of you now than I ever have been before. My only regret is that it had to be you that did it instead of me. I should have protected the two of you more, and for that know that I'm sorry. Sometimes even mothers fail their children, no matter how much we seem to have it together. I want you to know how very much I love you and your brother. Take care of each other, because family is all you have. My precious boy, you have a fire inside of you that most don't. Use it to keep the ones you love warm, even when you feel like you have nothing left to give. I know that for a while you are going to feel unworthy of being loved, but Son that is so far from the truth. One day you are going to meet a wonderful woman that believes in you, and sees exactly what I have always seen in you. You will need her, just as you have needed me all of these years. Let her love you, Memphis, and love her in return with everything in you. When you feel like I'm gone just speak out loud. I'll hear you. Even though I didn't get to tell you goodbye, know that I did . . . from my heart to yours.